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My unique situation had caused me to wake up a little earlier than usual but it seemed like the professor was an even earlier riser. Not even 5 minutes had passed before I felt his presence in my mind once more. [Alex? Are you all… Oh my.] Both me and the voice now residing in my head shared the same urge at that moment, but while I still had my filter the experiences from last night seemed to have stripped him of his. {What's up Doc?}
The question snapped the professor out of his shock and the amusement and small chuckle that echoed through the link caused a little tension to ease from my body. If the professor could hear the voice as well then maybe it wasn't all in my head. {Technically I still am.} I rolled my eyes as I ignored the joke and the increase in amusement pulsing from Xavier. [Do not worry Mr. Callwell, mutations can have a variety of side effects, and although I have never seen one quite like this I have dealt with similar circumstances.]
The next few hours were a rush of activity as Xavier dealt with my sudden move. I don't really know what he did but I do know that a couple hours later I was pulling up to the largest house I had ever seen with a small bag full of essentials. I didn't know if and when I would be able to make it back to my house so I packed some clothes, toiletries, and a couple odds and ends I couldn't leave without. Luckily I was a minimalist so it all fit in my repurposed backpack.
In the movies and comics they always showed the school as a large mansion, and it still was… sort of. Most of the comics had said it was a family estate passed down that he repurposed to teach children with mutations. And I could see that it started out that way with the main building that was sitting at the end of the long driveway. But he had moved past that and now it looked more like a college campus than a small boarding school.
From what I could see as we drove up that driveway there had been a couple of additions to the house before they just gave up and started to build more buildings instead. It was kind of hodgepodge the way the different structures were placed but at the same time it gave the whole place a homey vibe. Like this place was for people instead of your average college student that spends half their time drunk and the other half partying.
That plus the amount of people walking around told me that there were a lot more students here than in any of the knowledge from my past life prepared me for. I must have seen over a hundred different mutants, in all shapes and sizes. Some looked like normal humans, others had visible mutations that set them apart, and even more were actively using their mutations without any fear.
I was starting to get the feeling something happened that had changed the path of this world in a big way. {No kidding, with the amount of mutants here it looks like in this world Magneto and Xavier never split up plus with all the visible mutations the Morlocks probably even joined at some point. And even then for this many people all the other groups we just didn't read about must have gathered here too.}
That was actually starting to creep me out a little, what could have happened to change the world this much? Usually the only way to force people to work together like this is fear, fear of something forcing them to work together instead of wasting their time and energy fighting each other. But in this world that could literally be anything from some Elder Gods, knowledge about what the sentinels could really do, some evil power hungry mutant, or time travel shenanigans.
I shook my head, whatever it was it wasn't like I would be figuring it out right away so I might as well focus on my current problems instead of trying to dig up more. This wasn't something I should be worrying about, I have enough on my plate with my powers fritzing out to worry about what happened to turn a bad situation into the most positive outcome possible. {Dude, I think your trust issues have trust issues.}
I frowned at the voice in my head and decided that ignoring it was probably the better option. If I was going to be staying here for the next few years then I didn't want people to think I was nuts. As first impressions go, that would not be the best one to make. By the time I forced myself out of that rabbit hole we had arrived at the main house and I was led inside by my driver. Which by the way, wasn't anyone I could recognize on sight.
And after seeing how many people were living here it was understandable that I would run into more people that I didn't know then I did. The various media I absorbed in my past life usually focused on a few dozen mutants, I saw at least twice that many on our walk in. I guess some mutations were not very cinematic, and a couple would have been in bad taste to show on the movie screen.
Anyway, once we made our way inside it only took a couple of minutes to make our way to Xavier's office. Along the way I realized that this must have been the faculty building as it seemed to be filled with office after office. I'm pretty sure I even recognized one of the teachers as Storm, but I couldn't be sure. She was across the hall and her back was turned towards us. I considered saying hi but she looked busy and before I could make the decision to interrupt her conversation we had finally made our way to our destination.
{Plus the fact some random kid coming up and saying hi might have come across as creepy. It's not like you can explain she was a comic book crush.} While I tried to get my blush from that under control my guide opened the door without knocking and ushered me in. Then without a word he swiftly shut it behind me once I stepped through. After the door was shut I was left feeling like I was visiting the principal's office.
I must have been broadcasting my nervousness because the professor chuckled and waved his hand, gesturing for me to take a seat. "You are not in trouble Mr. Callwell, I have just asked that you would be brought to my office as soon as possible. You will have plenty of time to drop off your belongings after we make sure you are alright."
I relaxed a little when he said I was not in trouble but then tensed up again when he reminded me of why I was here. {Jeez, calm the fuck down. I'm getting motion sick with all the mode swings.}... And now I was annoyed again. "I presume your new guest was making his opinion known?" I nodded in response while rolling my eyes, "Whatever happened last night seemed to have destroyed his filter and removed the word tact from his vocabulary."
Xavier started to chuckle again before he cleared his throat, "If you would allow me to connect our minds once more we would be able to communicate more clearly, without you having to repeat everything your passenger says." I was about to agree when I was interrupted by the voice in my head again, {Wait! No! Don't Agree!} I tensed up at the level of panic he had, did he know something I didn't? Did Xavier mess with my head in some way I couldn't sense? It wouldn't be that surprising if he did, he's supposed to be the best telepath on the planet after all.
{You seriously need to chill out with the paranoia. I just have an idea I want to try and it has a better chance of working if he pulls us into our mindscape.} That's a real thing? Cause with how he was explaining his powers last night I figured that was just something for the movies. But he didn't answer my question so I shrugged and relayed his request to Xavier. If I couldn't trust my own voice in my head then who could I trust? And if it was a trap then I would rather willingly walk into it than start doubting myself that much.
Once I told Xavier what the voice requested he smiled and wheeled his chair out and around his desk. I shifted my own chair so we were face to face and tried to relax as he performed a vulcan mind meld. {You know that's not what he's doing right?} Shut up, let me enjoy my little fantasies, {Dude if combining with a bald old man is one of your fantasies I think me and you need to have a long conversation on who is going to be sitting in the driver's seat after this.}
I didn't get a chance to respond as in the next moment I found myself floating in the middle of a chaotic storm. It was like nothing I had seen before, not even Doctor Strange's acid trip through the multiverse compared. Reality and fiction seemed to have been compressed to a single point while keeping each unique instance separate from the others. So in front of me there was a forest where the leaves were made from flames and the trunks were skyscrapers with little fireflies leaving from each window in a stream of blinking lights.
And it only stayed in that state for a single instant because while they were all separate they never stopped shifting from one scene to another. In the next moment the forest turned into a lightsaber duel across the deck of the Black Pearl, with Captain Jack Sparrow holding his own, fighting to protect his jar of dirt. And then it changed again while I just stared and watched the chaos unfold in front of me, sometimes literally.
"There you are, wandered off, did yah?" I turned around at the noise and saw myself, only this version was a bit older, well not exactly older, more like rougher. Like they had gone through something I hadn't, "Well that's what peaking into the unseeable truths of the universe can do to you." The moment he mentioned the truths the whole area shuddered and low noise shook something inside of me.
"That's enough out of you (*^%*^#%$@^#." That time I clapped my hands over my ears in pain as the noise that came out of his mouth sounded like glass shards scraping along the chalkboard. "Oops, sorry… Anyway, let's go find Xavier in this mess. I hope he's had the good sense not to go exploring, some of the stuff in here is not for the faint of heart and I'd rather not have my first day here marred by driving the Headmaster insane."
My eyes widened at his comment but before I could ask any questions he grabbed my arm and dragged me in a direction that shouldn't have been possible. The closest I could describe it was inside out and a little to the left, "It's a good thing you got that controlled thoughts skill last night, cause I was able to direct you both to safe areas but without a more solid powerbase that's pretty much all I could do. Hopefully that will change soon enough."
My doppelganger held a one sided conversation while I was busy trying not to throw up as he dragged me through impossible scenes and in even more impossible directions. Turns out taking the first metaphorical step was the easiest part, not something I thought I would ever say about turning inside out. Not that I thought I would ever be turned inside out… and live to tell the tale.
But after what felt like a few minutes I started to get used to the sensations of traveling this way. It still felt like that one time I had taken shrooms but at least I didn't feel like I was going to start barfing pool cues, yeah that felt as weird as it sounds. "Back with us are you now, made pretty good time too. We're almost to Xavier, but it looks like he had a harder time keeping his curiosity in check. Nothing too bad, just ran into a herd of weeping angels."
I gave a whole body flinch at that. Those things terrified me as a kid, had to give a second look at every statue I passed after I watched their first encounter with David Tennent. "No need to worry, like I said, they aren't too bad. Well they are for Xavier, but he doesn't know the trick to beating them, we do, or at least I do. You'll be able to do it someday but for now I'll have to handle it."
With that he pushed his way out of Yoda's ear hair before it turned into Sauran's tower. Then we caught sight of the professor as he spun on his heel trying to keep as many of the statues as he could in his line of sight. He hadn't noticed us yet as his attention was focused on the weeping angels but the man that had been guiding me didn't wait any longer and leapt into the fray… metaphorically.
With a wave of his hand, reflections were conjured in front of every weeping angel. Then they all froze and the professor froze along with them but relaxed once he was sure they were no longer mobile. After he was sure of his safety he turned around and his eyes slightly widened at the two of us. "Even if I had known there were two of you it is still disconcerting to see two people but only sense one mind."
The other me smirked and lowered his hand, "Get used to it professor, if I have my way you'll be seeing a lot more of me soon enough." The professor looked a little hesitant about what that could mean but wiped the apprehension off his face like any good teacher should be able to do. Then he clapped his hands together, "Well then now that we are here, would you like to explain what has happened in the last twenty four hours."
He was looking in my direction but I shrugged before turning towards my newly discovered twin, while he just sighed. "Come on, let's get to somewhere safer before we start talking, those reflections will only keep them at bay for so long in a place like this." Both the professor and I stared at the statues, expecting them to suddenly jump at us and shuddered even when they remained still before we both looked back to my smirking clone.
He didn't let the smirk drop as he turned around and waved his hand for us to follow, "Come on, this way, and be careful not to step off the path, as the professor just learned, curiosity can get you killed… or worse." The man apparently felt guilty enough that he actually flinched a little when that was brought up, that actually allowed my trust to grow a little more than anything else.
Trust not the perfect man but the one who learns from his mistakes. I don't actually remember who said that but it sounds profound. "I am sorry about that but I saw this marvelous planet formation that I just had to take a closer look at, it had a planet that was trapped in the orbit of three different stars! And after taking just one step I appeared in another place and found myself in the fight of my life."
"It's all right professor, everyone makes mistakes, but it takes a good man to be willing to admit it." The man walking in front of us waved him off before ducking under a miniature bridge that was being constructed in fast forward. It was built by tiny people working to get to a castle just a few feet away, but like all things in this place it shifted and all that work was gone and something else replaced it.
Just as it shifted we turned a corner and my view was blocked but there was so much more to see that I didn't mind. There was just so much to see but before I could take in more of the sights we apparently reached our destination. "Welcome to my sanctuary." He also had a taste for dramatics as the so-called sanctuary was a tiny wooded area with a few camping chairs sitting around an unlit campfire. It couldn't have been ten feet wide but it was a calm spot in the center of a raging storm.
I couldn't place my finger on it either but it seemed familiar, I caught the eye of my double and he winked before turning away. "Have a seat and stay awhile, we don't have much but i can guarantee that while you are here your stay will be uneventful." As if to challenge that statement another cacophony of noise assaulted the barrier surrounding this place and shook the entire area.
We all stumbled and tried to keep our footing until the noise stopped and while the professor merely cleared his throat I shot a glare of irritation his way. He shrugged with that smug smirk still stretched across his face and decided to tempt fate again, "Well relatively uneventful anyway." He gestured for us to sit so we all took our seats before he folded his hands and leaned forward, "Well let's start with explaining what exactly our mutant ability is. Sound good?"
The current advanced chapters are:
Master of Magic Ch2-3
Seal Smith Ch2
Flip the Script Ch1-2
The Game Ch1-3
Millennium Ch1-2
Haven Ch1
Who is a Zoo? Ch1
God of Games Ch6
Breathe Ch1
Another Wayne Ch1
Salvation Ch1
Guide Ch1
Growth Ch1
Ark Ch5-7
Further Ch2
Puzzle Maker Ch3
A Thousand Words Ch1-2
Free Range Ch1
Not All Heroes Wear Capes Ch3